This interesting surname is of Irish origin, and is an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic "Mac Roibin", son of Robin, an Anglo-Norman French given name, and a diminutive of Robert, from the Old French "Rodbert" or "Robert", itself coming from the Old German "Hrodebert", a compound of the elements "hrod", renown, and "berht", bright, famous. This name was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, and the forms "Rodbertus, Rotbert", and "Robert" (without surname) appear in the Domesday Book of 1086. The pet form Robin also came originally from France via England to Ireland, and the Gaelic patronymic of the same first appears on record in the mid 16th Century. The name "MacRobyn" or "MacRoben" occurs occasionally in the "Inquisitions" for Queen's County (Laois) and Wexford, dated 1604 - 1628. It also appears in the Galway Book of Survey and Distribution, circa 1660, and the Anglicized form "Cribbin" is first recorded in County Mayo at that time also. Several bearers of the name emigrated to Lancashire in the 18th Century where the surname is widely recorded. On February 23rd 1772, Esther, daughter of Thomas Crebbin, was christened at St. Nicholas', Liverpool, Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of MacRobyn, which was dated 1566, in the "Elizabethan Fiants Records", during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 of England, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.1603.

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